Turkey Arrests Key Suspect of 2013 Reyhanli Attack

According to information gathered by Anadolu Agency, following a "pinpoint operation”, the Turkish National Intelligence Organization brought to Turkey Yusuf Nazik, who is suspected of carrying out a deadly attack that killed scores of people in southern Turkey.

Nazik, 34, who was put in the Interior Ministry’s blue category on the wanted terrorists list, confessed that after a tip off from Syrian intelligence units, he scouted the crime scene prior to the attack and moved explosives from Syria to Turkey.

He added that he procured two vehicles to move the explosives.

Nazik, who was born in Antakya, in Turkey's southern province of Hatay, confessed that he was acting on orders from Syrian intelligence units, adding: "I was not able to escape from the Turkish state," in video footage provided to Anadolu Agency.

"I am calling out to my friends in Syria, turn back while there still is time. The Turkish state will protect us. I am calling out the state of Syria, the Turkish state will make you pay eventually," he added.

Nazik, during his interrogation, reportedly gave detailed information about Miraj Ural – a terrorist responsible for the Reyhanli attack who is being sought by an Interpol red notice – and called for another fugitive terrorists to surrender.

Turkey blames Ural for a spate of attacks in May 2013, in the town of Reyhanli in Turkey’s southern Hatay province, that left 53 people dead.

The May 2013 bombings in the Reyhanli district of Hatay, near the Turkish border with Syria, left 53 people dead. A total of 912 buildings, 891 workplaces and 148 vehicles were heavily damaged in the attack.

On Feb. 23, 2018, a Turkish court sentenced nine of the 33 suspects with aggravated life imprisonment and 13 others with jail time ranging from 10 to 15 years.

On Wednesday, Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul hailed the operation and said that the state of Turkey will go after all culprits and terror organizations.

"It was a successful operation. Our state will come after every kind of terrorist group and [Turkey's] independent judiciary will give out fair sentences, wherever the culprit may be," Gul told reporters during his visit to central Konya province.

This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.

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